Oasis | Tallgrass Brewing Company

0 characters.
We love reviews! Turn your rating into one with ≥ 150 characters. Awesome. Thanks for the review!

In English, explain why you're giving this rating. Your review must discuss the beer's attributes (look, smell, taste, feel) and your overall impression in order to indicate that you have legitimately tried the beer. Nonconstructive reviews may be removed without notice and action may be taken on your account.

Notes / Commercial Description:
Oasis is a Double ESB/IPAish beer that came about from playing around with one of Jeff’s favorite homebrew recipes. Here at Tallgrass we love malt and we love hops, and this beer has both of them in record quantities; well, at least records for our baby brewery.

At a hefty 7.2% ABV and 93 IBU, Oasis is a big beer that has to be priced a bit higher than our regular line of beers. We think that once you taste the over-the-top hops and surprisingly sturdy malt backbone you will realize why it’s worth it.

Definitely not a fruit-extract seasonal shandy, this beer is meant to be enjoyed on the back porch, the front porch, or even on the stoop. What's a stoop? Well, it's a good place to drink beer, is what it is.

A: The beer is hazy amber orange in color and has a light to moderate amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a finger high dense beige head that gradually died down and left a coating of bubbles down the sides of the glass.
S: There are moderately strong aromas of pine resin hops along with some notes of citrus hops.
T: Like the smell, flavors of pine resin hops stand out in the overall taste, which has a moderate amount of bitterness with notes of citrus hops. Hints of caramel malts are also present and become stronger as the beer warms up.
M: It feels medium-bodied and crisp on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer seems to be a little maltier compared to other IPAs and hides its alcohol very well.

With all the bready, biscuity flavors of genuine English ales and the balance of an ESB, Oasis takes on a very assertive stance that's both bold and graceful.

Oasis pours a medium mohogany brown color with a modest haze. A sturdy yellowish head builds and clings to the glass in intermitten patterns of lace as the beer fades. A very masculine look.

Spicy-sweet aromas speak to the beer's balance even early in the nose with a toffee, bready malt richness to match the piney and grassy herbal contributions of noble hops. Light yet non-descript fruitiness adds another element of complexity but without competing for attention.

Flavors of bread, deep caramel, biscuit, and a hint of sorghum give definition to the malted milk richness in taste. Balanced by earthy, spicy, grassy, and a touch of pine in hop character decorate the richness well, while also offsetting sweetness and accenting the dryness in finish. Still, the fruity flavors rise as the beer warms and further reinforce its English intent. Where the balance and flavors are classic, the intensity remains high for these styles- almost to the extent of imperial ales.

Firmness in body gives a weighted creaminess on the tongue and palate with a robust maltiness that has a nice and even fade towards a smooth bitterness and slowly drying finish. Semi-sweet in finish, the beer has a return of mint and pine in aftertaste. Delicious but a bit big to be highly drinkable.

I can't help to think that the beer is supposed to be a standout ESB. But the allowances for imperial red ales (just with English ingredients) also come to mind. Regardless, Oasis is a well-crafted beer and very enjoyable. Just don't look at the style guidelines when anylizing.

Can is julian dated 10 324 on the bottom rim, loosely translating to 11/10. I'm assuming this is relatively fresh, within a month or so from production. Cool can design.

Very dark amber with orange traces around the edges. Sticky tan foam that coats the glass in concentric rings. Looks nice, a bit dark and murky.

Aromas of toffee and caramel, reminds me of a faded IPA, but as a "double ESB" it fits I guess. Some piney bitter hops come through, moreso in the taste, but in the aroma too.

Sweet caramel dominates with an earthy hop bitterness that have a significant presence too. Pine and green bitterness blend with the dominating malt base. Feels fine, even carbonation, easily quaffed. The sweet caramel flavor puts me off a bit, again like a faded IPA i'm resigned to finish. Altogether though not bad. I think I liked their IPA slightly more.

A: Pours a hazy deep amber bordering on garnet red in color. The beer has a two finger tall dense pillowy beige head that slowly reduces to an even denser thick layer covering the entire surface of the beer evenly with a slightly thicker ring at the edges of the glass. Significant amounts of lacing are observed.

S: There are light to moderate aromas of caramel malt sweetness with a significant hop presence - there are pine/resin, lemon/citrus, earthy, and spicy hop notes.

T: The beer has a moderate body of caramel malt sweetness that underlies the strong hop flavors. There are flavors of pine/resin, lemon/citrus, and spicy hops that impart a moderate amount of bitterness which lingers but not too long.

M: On the heavier side of medium bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation. Creamy with moderate amounts of dryness in the finish.

O: A very enjoyable beer and an interesting hybrid of the ESB and DIPA styles. Very nice combination of hop flavors and definitely a beer that I would have again - I have been impressed with all of the beers I have tried from this brewery.

Appearance: A hazy, light russet brown body rests gently beneath a massive head of light tan froth. When held to the light the highlights are mainly orange, with some deep gold coming through as well. The head retention is excellent and the lacing is impressive.

Aroma: Malty and hoppy. Caramelish and bready malts notes are clear. It's somewhat toasty; nicely grainy. On the hops side it's leafy, grassy and floral. A minor bit of soft, yeasty fruitiness is present as well. Very "English" in character.

Taste: Rich. This is quite a beer! It's very malty, and also very hoppy. Everything that's found in the aroma follows through, and it's very much like an amped-up "premium" bitter. The malt is bready and caramelish and toasty; the yeasty fruitiness displays soft, sweet berry-like and apple-ish flavors; and the hops are minty, leafy, grassy and floral. It's supported and balanced by a bold bitterness (somewhere around 90 IBU's!), and it finishes dry with lingering notes of toasty (almost burnt-edged) sugary bread and grassy hops.

Overall: The upper edge of the can reads "BOLD BEER" and it certainly is. Yet at the same time, it's kept in-check and remains very focused and balanced. Quite nice!!! And if there's any flaw here, it's the lack of tight filtration. I personally don't mind that, and I enjoy the look of a hazy/cloudy beer, but some people find it off-putting. It had great head retention and lacing however, so I went ahead and scored it a 4.5 (although it might actually be more like a 4.25). Well worth seeking out.

As much as I love cans, they are a bitch to pour, and it rises up a huge frothy and creamy 4 finger head that fades fairly slowly with lots of lacing, over fairly hazy auburn amber reddish orange color.

Nose has some big-ol hops. Big earthy hops mostly, with a light candied orange peel and candy like hops aroma, a little floral and fruity, and smells like lots of bittering hops. Malts are a plenty as well, with a big malty sweetness in the aroma alone, with a hint of toasty reddish caramel malts, and touch of toffee.

Taste starts slightly creamy, a little creamy malt base, and quickly comes the sweetness with a big malty flavor, caramel and toffee, a little candy, and chewy. Hops are there as well, fairly bitter, with some light spicy and plenty earthy, little grassy hop character that hits a plateau early but remains fairly bitter throughout. Just a bit of candied orange peel hop character, it really seems creamy and chewy like they put oats in it. Finish is still fairly sweet, more candy and caramel toffee flavors, more bitterness that ramps a bit on the finish and sticks around forever it seems, and a bit more earthy light citrus bitterness.

Mouth is med to a bit fuller bodied, creamy and chewy, decent carb.

Overall pretty good, lots of hops, lots of malts, both go together well, nothing out of place, tasty, nice long bitter finish that doesn't disappoint, but with all that doesn't really go above and beyond.

T: The taste starts out with a strong burst of grassy hops bitterness followed but sweet flavors of caramel and citrus. The malt character is hearty but not too heavy and provides a good balance. The after-taste is slightly hoppy and slightly sweet.

Thanks to dougofthefuture for sending this in Blind BIF 5. Served in a Cantillon tulip.

Pours a bright copper color with a bit of a reddish hue. Big white head with some spotty lacing and a thin cap throughout. The nose is not good. Really light with a bit of grain. A bit grainy. Smells kind of like an old IPA. Grain tannin. The flavor has loads of grain and a good amount of grain husk. By good, I mean a lot, not that its a little less than great. Astringent. Hard to guess on this right now. It's tasting more like a bad IPA. Bitterness in the finish with a dry finish. No hop flavor thought. Not a fan. Perhaps a kill shot.

16 oz can into a tulip glass. This is from an assortment of KS brewery selection generously traded to me by JeepCop. Thanks Dale!

Pours a slightly hazed copper, with 2 fingers of frothy off-white head. There's a thin yet relatively rich retention to here, leaving back a foamy cascade that settles into some heavy swathes of lace. The aroma is grassy and citric smelling, with a touch of leafy spiciness. Malts add some supportive sweetness across the back of the nose; with some robust fruity notes really push through here. I'm also picking up just a slight mineral edge to this as well.

The taste has a strong green citric bite upon first sip, which is tempered by sweet fruit and the bready and caramel flavors of the malt. A dry leafy bitterness lingers with a bit of force upon the finish of this. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and fairly crisp throughout but still achieves enough smoothness to keep this drinking decently. There are some faint alcohol notes here but I was actually shocked to find out that this was over 7%.

Yeah, this definitely didn't come off to me as a DIPA. Maybe more like a full bodied APA or I could even see the ESB comparisons with the heft of the malt here at times. Anyway, this was overall decent and I found it surprisingly drinkable considering the higher ABV. This was maybe not my favorite of these Tallgrass offerings but it's still pretty solid.

With this review, The CANQuest (TM) will have achieved another milestone, namely the 350th beer on the journey! 350?!? I CAN remember when I started out that I wondered if I would be able to break 100. Onward!

Following Ye Olde Crack & Glug, I was looking at two fingers' worth of foamy, tawny head with good retention. Color was a slightly hazy deep-orangish amber. Holy Hops, Batman! The citrus scent seemed to fill the room! I did lean in for a whiff and caught some pine, also. Yay, hops! Mouthefeel was medium and while I had girded myself for an enamel stripping hops experience (not a bad thing to me), I actually experienced a nice interplay with the caramel maltiness on the tongue. Gad, but I miss drinking IPAs and DIPAs on a regular basis since many CANs are simple AALs. Finish was mostly hops, though, making for a gaspingly dry experience. Just the way I like it! As to drinkablility, I am now faced with a CANundrum - thanks to the word getting around about this program, I have redundancy in terms of Tallgrass CANs. Do I pass the duplicate on to another CANQuester or do I save it for greedy personal CANsumption? Nah. It's going to someone who will appreciate it and who has done me some real solids on this journey. Also, it would not be terribly appropriate in the cooler, except as an end of the day celebration. Put it in the bottom corner to save until the wrap-up. Speaking of wrapping up ...

T: Fruitty & dry with herbal hops, plus a touch of toffee up front. Dryness, herbal hops & a bit of astringency as this warms, along with a touch of woody hops, apricot & caramel too. Finishes woody & astringent, really falls apart at the end

MF: Medium bodied with soft carbonation

Drinks alright as long as you don't get too put off by the dryness & astringency. ABV was well hidden, had much higher hopes...

Smell - Nothing? I really smell almost nothing. Faint malt notes and what I think is some grassy hops. But really, it's nothing.

Taste - Pine hops up front and a strong bitterness almost instantly. It's got a very toasty malt bill. Almost burnt toast. It combines with the bitterness to be almost overwhelming, but still a decent flavor.

Mouthfeel - Slightly thick for 7.2%. It's not really an IPA, but it isn't an ESB. There needs to be a different category for these hyped up not-quite-pale and not-quite-brown ales.

Overall - The taste is just a bit better than average, but nothing else is. Where's the smell? That's like half of what beer is.